Post on 25-Jul-2020
Marina Umaschi Bers, PhD
Professor and Chair Child Study and Human Development
and Computer Sciences
Director, DevTech Research Group
Early Childhood Technology Graduate Certificate
Tufts University
marina.bers@tufts.edu@marinabers
Coding as a Developmental Playground:Computational Thinking and Robotics
2
What technologies in your life are playgrounds and which ones are playpens?
Many technologies for children are playpens
Our choice
Positive Technological Development (PTD)
Caring
Connection
Contribution
Competence
Confidence
Character
• Tech Circle• Storytelling Projects
• Collaboration Web• Whole-Class Projects
• Open House• Community Experts
• Design Process• Engineering Journals
• Final Projects• See, Think, Wonder
• Expertise Badges• Ethical Design Process
Communication
Collaboration
Community Building
Content Creation
Creativity
Choices of Conduct
Assets Behaviors Classroom Practice
New Technologies
Learning Culture, Results and Values
Personal development trajectory within a sociocultural context
Positive Technological Development (PTD) Framework
8
Why coding?
Seymour Papert, MITLOGO turtle1967
• Coding as literacy
• Coding as playground
Coding is a new literacy
New ways of thinkingNew ways of expression
New ways of communication
Literacy empowers people
Tools
Projects funded by the National Science Foundation NSF DRL-1118897 & NSF DRL-1118664 and the Scratch Foundation
KIBO robot
ScratchJr(in collaboration with Mitch Resnick, MIT Media Lab)
Jumping frogScratch ScratchJr
ScratchJr User Analytics:Jan. 2016 –March 2019
Top 10 countries
1. United States (34%)2. United Kingdom
(12%)3. Australia (8%)4. Canada (6%)5. Sweden (4%)6. France (3%)7. China (3%)8. Spain (3%)9. Netherlands (2%)10. Japan (2%)
• Over 10. 9 million users since2014 launch
• 37 million projects created• 49 million times projects are
revised• 473 registered languages
Only country with no ScratchJr usage is North Korea
PBS KIDS ScratchJr over 600,000 downloads
ScratchJr MarylandJan. 2016 – March 2019
53,547 total users
Top Five Cities: Baltimore: 4,996Bethesda: 3,367Salisbury: 3,258Silver Spring: 3,258Rockville: 2,933
Total sessions: 248,000
KIBO
KIBO is in 54 countries
KIBO in Singapore
INTEC is putting KIBO in every kindergarten in the city of Buenos Aires
KIBO in Argentina
How ?
Learning by designing
Learning by designing
Learning by designing
What ?
PreK-2 9-126-83-5 college …
1.Algorithms2.Modularization 3.Control structures4.Representation5.Design process6.Debugging7. Hardware/software…
Powerful ideas from computer science
Why young children?
*Source: Heckman, James J. (2008). “Schools, Skills and Synapses,” Economic Inquiry, 46(3): 289-324
Programs targeted toward the earliest years
Preschool programs
Schooling
Job training
Rate
of R
etur
n to
In
vest
men
t in
Hum
an C
apita
l
4-50-3 School Post-SchoolPrenatal
Returns to a Unit Dollar Invested*
Coding as a literacy
Coding as a literacy of the XXI century
• The abbility to use a symbol system and a technological tool to comprehend and express ideas.
Coding promotes abstract, logical thinking and engages in problem solving
Computational Thinking
Useful for everyone
Coding as a literacy of the XXI century
• It changes our thinking and enables civic participation.
Coding as STEM
Coding as a language
Coding as Another Language (CAL) Curriculum
www.sites.tufts.edu/codingasliteracy
Coding as Literacy (CAL)
What are the relationships between learning to read and write and learning to code?
What are the fundamental shared cognitive mechanisms?
How can our pedagogical approaches to literacy impact our teaching of computational
thinking and coding and vice versa?
Brain imaging studies
What happens in the brain when kids program?
If coding is a literacy, would the language brain regions activate while programming?
The cognitive and neural mechanisms of computer programming in young children:
storytelling or solving puzzles?
PI Marina Bers (Tufts) ; co-Pi Ev Fedorenko (MIT/MGH)
Classroom studies
If coding is a new literacy, would literacy scores improve?
What is the impact of CAL on coding, developing computational thinking, and improving literacy?
CAL @ Norfolk, Virginia
- Virginia is the first state to mandate the teaching of CS.
- Pilot with 8 schools
- 65% teachers have 10 + years teaching experience
● CAL integrates literacy and coding
● 12 one hour lessons
● Lessons align with Common Core Literacy standards and K-12 CS frameworks
The CAL KIBO curriculum @ Norfolk
SOLVE-ITS
CROSS SECTIONAL CODING ABILITY ASSESSMENT
TACTICWhich is the correct order to scan
program blocks?Which of these programs will make
KIBO shake after it hears a clap?
SUMMATIVECODING AND CT ABILITY
ASSESSMENT
TECH CHECK
What comes next?
LONGITUDINAL CT AND PROBLEM SOLVING
ASSESSMENT
Looking for sites as research partners
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTJuly 9th – July 12
9am – 3pm
Open to educators and practitioners working with young children pre-K through second
grade. The PD is divided in content (option to sign up per day or all days).
• July 9: Hands-on introduction to ScratchJr
• July 10 : Curriculum and integration ScratchJr
• July 11: Hands-on introduction to KIBO
• July 12: Curriculum and integration of KIBO
For more information and to register : http://bit.ly/devtechPD
Early Childhood Technology (ECT)
Graduate Certificate Program
Online & in-person graduate courses & certification for educators and practitioners working with young children in pre-kindergarten through second grade
Virtual Open House: December 8th at 4:00PM EST
with Associate Director Dr. Amanda Sullivanhttp:bit.ly/tuftsECT
Questions?
marina.bers@tufts.edu
This work is supported by:NSF awards # DRL-0735657; NSF DRL-1118897
Thanks to my wonderful students in the DevTech group a Tufts!
http://www.tufts.edu/~mbers01/